Tiger Town

It's easy to get swept up with major Hollywood stars this time of year, gazing at the red carpet and thinking of these celebs as superhuman megastars, but even the biggest names around got their starts in less glamorous ways. Before their Oscars and Emmys, these stars had Pop Tarts and Lisa Frank.
1. Ben Affleck
Dig those smooth moves and that hip phone! The two-time Oscar winner starred in this Burger King commercial before becoming the megastar we know today from films like Good Will Hunting and Gone Girl. His next role may be playing Batman, but now we'll always think of him as this bad boy who breaks the rules.
2. Brad Pitt
It may be crazy to see a superstar like Brad Pitt shelling for potato chips, but if you think about it, not much has really changed for the Oscar-winning Fight Club star since this Pringles commercial: he still looks good enough to make our mouths water.
3. Jennifer Lawrence
Since starring in this commercial for MTV's Super Sweet 16, Hunger Games star Jennifer Lawrence has taught those boys how to properly carry her around on her throne, where this Oscar-winning actress belongs.
4. Stanley Tucci
We've always loved The Devil Wears Prada's Stanley Tucci, but seeing him young and hunky in this Levi's commercial made us love him even more.
5. Steve Carell
Steve Carell may have received his first Oscar nomination for his dramatic role in Foxcatcher, but this commercial shows that he's at his best when he's being funny and lovable.
6. Leonardo DiCaprio
We're like 97% sure we'd take our pants off immediately if Leo came up to us now and told us to "keep it poppin" or to "save some for Daddy." The 5-time Academy Award nominee is underrated even when it comes to his commercials.
7. Haley Joel Osment
We're just gonna throw this out there: The Sixth Sense could have been a much better movie if they'd stuck to the original line, "I see snack dragons." Just saying. Also, not even a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle would eat a pizza that looks that gross, Kraft.
8. Naomi Watts
Young Naomi Watts, the two-time Academy Award nominee you know from films like Birdman and Mulholland Drive, was once a teenager with a thick Australian accent. Like most of us, the near-perfect actress worried about her skin, her figure, and "that one" problem we don't talk about.
9. Bruce Willis and Sharon Stone
"You sound like a commercial." "You buyin' it?" This is the greatest moment of either of their careers. Just kidding, Sharon Stone has gone on to many other performances that are just as good, if not better.
10. Mila Kunis
So, we guess we can thank Mila Kunis for helping make Lisa Frank such a thing in the 90s. It's hard to believe that the star was only two years away from her breakout role on That '70s Show.
11. Elijah Wood:
We've always had a lot of love for Elijah Wood's facial expressions. From Lord of the Rings to Wilfred, his face is sometimes the only thing that makes his performances entertaining. This commercial might just be his shining moment.
12. Kristen Stewart
We love how sassy Kristen Stewart is in this Porsche commercial -- that head nod and "duh" look on her face, as if she would lie about missing her bus, Dad. But secretly, she's all *Live Fast, Die Hard, Bad Girls, Do It Well* #YOLO. Performance of her career, honestly.
13. Meg Ryan
We would personally rather watch a never-ending loop of Meg Ryan's face appearing over the Burger King logo than watch Sleepless in Seattle.
14. Joseph Gordon-Levitt
How many times have we fantasized about the chance to be at Joseph Gordon Levitt's house with him making us breakfast in the morning? Countless. But we never imagined it could be as adorable and delicious as this 1991 Pop Tarts commercial makes it seem.
15. Tobey Maguire
Yo, Spider-Man is having an uncomfortable amount of fun in the bathroom.
16. Corey Feldman
This adorable McDonalds commercial from 1975 may have been heartwarming back then, but 40 years later, it just reminds us how much The Goonies star hasn't aged since he was 4.
17. Demi Moore
We're not sure if the Ghost star was trying to sell Diet Coke by convincing us we might fall in love, or if she was trying to warn us of the dangers and health problems that could arise from drinking it, but we still like it.
18. Keanu Reeves:
Eating cereal has seriously never looked more fun than it does in this commercial. We would love to eat Kelloggs Corn Flakes with Keanu, Matrix style.
19. Stephen Colbert
This ad seems like a news report, and we can totally see a lot of similarities between this FirsTier Bank commercial and The Colbert Report.
20. Matt LeBlanc
Okay, the best things might come to those who wait, but does the Friends star now have to run back up to the roof, or is he just gonna waste that whole bottle of ketchup just to look cool eating one hot dog? Joey. Doesn't. Waste. Food.
21. Courteney Cox
Fun fact: the Friends star was the first person to ever say "period" (referring to menstruation, not punctuation) on TV. She then broke down more boundaries by starring in terribly-named-but-not-actually-terrible TV shows, like Cougar Town.
22. Elisabeth Moss
Are we the only ones watching this commercial as if we're watching Pegy pitch an ad campaign on Mad Men? We can't be.
23. Sarah Michelle Gellar
This 4-year-old Sarah Michelle Gellar just slayed Burger King's competition faster than you could say "Buffy." Un-be-liev-able!
24. Bryan Cranston
Fans were amazed with how Bryan Cranston transformed from the lovable Hal on Malcolm in the Middle into the meth kingpin Heisenberg on Breaking Bad, but the truly incredible transformation of his career happened way earlier. The way he instantly goes from being a skunk to a human is absolutely astonishing.
25. Aaron Paul
This commercial seems like it could actually just be Breaking Bad's Jesse Pinkman waiting to eat his breakfast before heading off to Chemistry with Mr. White, doesn't it? Aaron Paul's gotta have his Pops, bitch!
26. Megan Mullally and John Goodman
We love Karen Walker enough to be able to recognize that incredible voice anywhere, even if it's some place strange, like a McDonalds commercial. While Karen would certainly never actually sell Egg McMuffins, we're pretty sure that Roseanne star John Goodman totally would.
27. Seth Green
We don't mean to diminish the abilities of our favorite werewolf from Buffy the Vampire Slayer or our favorite dimwitted cartoon son from Family Guy, but this is definitely Seth Green's brightest moment. That hair, the accent. He totally nails the 90s goon role with lines like, "Consequently, we can hit on 'em," and "Definitely - NOT!"
28. Tony Hale
Tony Hale won our hearts playing Buster on Arrested Development (and an Emmy playing Gary on Veep), and this commercial proves that he's made a career out of his hilarious concern regarding women's toiletries. We wonder if Gary's Leviathan on Veep has Herbal Essences.
29. Charlie Day
This quirky commercial for Cascade dishwasher detergent looks like Charlie Day just stepped out of an episode of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Graduating and heading straight into retirement also seems like a total Charlie Kelly scheme, doesn't it?
30. Jane Lynch
Okay, the only thing we love more than Frosted Flakes and Tony the Tiger is this commercial with Glee star Jane Lynch camping out everyday trying to sneak a peak at the elusive mascot himself.

Rocker Jack White returned to his native Detroit, Michigan on Tuesday (29Jul14) for a bizarre baseball moment before the home town Tigers' clash with the Chicago White Sox at Comerica Park. The former White Stripes star threw out the ceremonial first pitch to a catcher dressed up as Santa Claus. The rocker was also joined on the field by Detroit's tiger mascot, who was also dressed up as Father Christmas. No reason was given for the oddball baseball stunt.

The Oscar nominations came out on Thursday morning, and as of now, it's anybody's race. Some say 12 Years a Slave has it in the bag, while others think American Hustle will snatch the Best Picture trophy. There's no one way to know for sure — does the Academy weigh emotional impact? Flashy performances? The film's lasting message?
How about titles? Yes, you can tell a lot about a film by its title, and about its Oscar chances, too. We've compiled some handy data about each Best Picture nominee's title and what it says about the film's chances come time to hand out the awards. (You can also head over to BBC America to check out this fantastic infographic that predicts the Best Picture winner!)
AMERICAN HUSTLE
Columbia Pictures
Movies with the word "America" in their titles......to win a Best Picture Oscar: 2 (An American in Paris; American Beauty) ...to get nominated for BP, but not win: 2 (America, America; American Graffiti)
Movies whose titles refers to a crime or act of duplicity......to win a Best Picture Oscar: 2 (Mutiny on the Bounty; The Sting)...to get nominated for BP, but not win: 11 (The Racket; She Done Him Wrong; Imitation of Life; Libeled Lady; Grand Illusion; The Caine Mutiny; The Hustler; Mutiny on the Bounty; The Killing Fields; The Fugitive; Traffic)
CAPTAIN PHILLIPS
Columbia Pictures via Everett Collection
Movies with a main character's surname in their titles......to win a Best Picture Oscar: 10 (The Great Ziegfeld; Ben-Hur; Tom Jones; Patton; Annie Hall; Kramer vs. Kramer; Gandhi; Schindler’s List; Forrest Gump; Shakespeare in Love)...to get nominated for BP, but not win: 45 (Disraeli; Trader Horn; Arrowsmith; The House of Rothschild; Alice Adams; Captain Blood; David Copperfield; Ruggles of Red Gap; Anthony Adverse; Dodsworth; Mr. Deeds Goes to Town; The Story of Louis Pasteur; The Life of Emile Zola; The Adventures of Robin Hood; Goodbye, Mr. Chips; Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; Kitty Foyle; Citizen Kane; Here Comes Mr. Jordan; Sergeant York; Mrs. Miniver; The Magnificent Ambersons; Madame Curie; Wilson; Mildred Pierce; Johnny Belinda; Julius Caesar; Mister Roberts; The Diary of Anne Frank; Elmer Gantry; Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb; Mary Poppins; Doctor Zhivago; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?; Doctor Dolittle; Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid; Barry Lyndon; Prizzi’s Honor; Jerry Maguire; Good Will Hunting; Saving Private Ryan; Erin Brokovich; Capote; Michael Clayton; Lincoln)
Movies whose titles include a military rank......to win a Best Picture Oscar: o...to get nominated for BP, but not win: 6 (The Smiling Lieutenant; Captain Blood; Captains Courageous; Sergeant York; Saving Private Ryan; Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World)
DALLAS BUYERS CLUB
Focus Features via Everett Collection
Movies with a city name in their titles......to win a Best Picture Oscar: 4 (Cimarron; Casablanca; An American in Paris; Chicago)...to get nominated for BP, but not win: 18 (Hollywood Revue; Shanghai Express; San Francisco; In Old Chicago; The Philadelphia Story; Mr. Smith Goes to Washington; Casablanca; Roman Holiday; Peyton Place; Judgment and Nuremberg; Chinatown; Nashville; Fargo; L.A. Confidential; Gangs of New York; Munich; Letters from Iwo Jima; Midnight in Paris)
Movies whose titles seem like they should probably have a possessive apostrophe, but don't......to win a Best Picture Oscar: 0...to get nominated for BP, but not win: 4 (Boys Town; Kings Row; Dead Poets Society; Howards End)
GRAVITY
Warner Bros via Everett Collection
Movies whose titles are a single intangible noun......to win a Best Picture Oscar: 1 (Crash)...to get nominated for BP, but not win: 8 (Alibi; Suspicion; Crossfire; Deliverance; Traffic; Atonement; Inception; Moneyball)
Movies whose titles end in "ity"......to win a Best Picture Oscar: 1 (From Here to Eternity)...to get nominated for BP, but not win: 3 (Double Indemnity; Atlantic City; Sense and Sensibility)
HER
Warner Bros via Everett Collection
Movies whose titles are made up three letters or fewer......to win a Best Picture Oscar: 0...to get nominated for BP, but not win: 4 (Z; JFK; Ray; Up)
Movies that have the word "her" in their titles......to win a Best Picture Oscar: 1 (Ben-Hur)...to get nominated for BP, but not win: 1 (Hannah and Her Sisters)
NEBRASKA
Paramount via Everett Collection
Movies with U.S. state names in their titles......to win a Best Picture Oscar: 0...to get nominated for BP, but not win: 2 (In Old Arizona; Mississippi Burning) *Note: Mr. Smith Goes to Washington and Gangs of New York both refer to cities, not states, and the "Virginia" in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf is a human woman.
We loved Nebraska, but this is really the only one we could think of for it. Sorry, Alexander Payne. Sorry, everybody.
PHILOMENA
Weinstein Company via Everett Collection
Movies whose titles are just a main character's first name......to win a Best Picture Oscar: 5 (Rebecca; Hamlet; Marty; Gigi; Oliver!)...to get nominated for BP, but not win: 20 (Skippy; Cleopatra; Ivanhoe; Shane; Fanny; Cleopatra; Alfie; Lenny; Rocky; Julia; Norma Rae; Tess; Bugsy; Babe; Elizabeth; Seabiscuit; Ray; Juno; Precious; Hugo)
Movies whose titles were mispronounced by Leonardo DiCaprio on live television......to win a Best Picture Oscar: 0...to get nominated for BP, but not win: 0 (There can be only one Philomania.)
12 YEARS A SLAVE
Fox Searchlight
Movies with numbers in their titles......to win a Best Picture Oscar: 6 (It Happened One Night; Around the World in 80 Days; The Godfather Part II; One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest; Million Dollar Baby; Slumdog Millionaire)...to get nominated for BP, but not win: 36 (Seventh Heaven; Five Star Final; One Hour with You; 42nd Street; The Private Life of Henry VIII; One Night of Love; Broadway Melody of 1936; A Tale of Two Cities; Three Smart Girls; One Hundred Men and a Girl; Four Daughters; One Foot in Heaven; 49th Parallel; Henry V; Miracle on 34th Street; A Letter to Three Wives; Twelve O’Clock High; Seven Brides for Seven Brothers; Three Coins in the Fountain; The Ten Commandments; 12 Angry Men; The Defiant Ones; A Thousand Clowns; Anne of the Thousand Days; Five Easy Pieces; Born on the Fourth of July; The Godfather Part III; Four Weddings and a Funeral; Apollo 13; The Sixth Sense; The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers; District 9; 127 Hours; Toy Story 3; Zero Dark Thirty)
Movies that refer to a unit of time in their titles......to win a Best Picture Oscar: 2 (The Best Years of Our Lives; Around the World in 80 Days) ...to get nominated for BP, but not win: 9 (One Hour with You; Lady for a Day; The Yearling; The Longest Day; Anne of the Thousand Days; Dog Day Afternoon; Remains of the Day; The Hours; 127 Hours)
THE WOLF OF WALL STREET
Paramount via Everett Collection
Movies whose titles include mention of an animal......to win a Best Picture Oscar: 3 (The Deer Hunter; Dances with Wolves; The Silence of the Lambs)...to get nominated for BP, but not win: 17 (Of Mice and Men; The Little Foxes; The Maltese Falcon; The Ox-Bow Incident; The Snake Pit; Cat on a Hot Tin Roof; To Kill a Mockingbird; The Lion in Winter; One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest; Dog Day Afternoon; The Elephant Man; Raging Bull; Kiss of the Spider Woman; Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; Black Swan; War Horse)
Movies whose titles include the name of a street......to win a Best Picture Oscar: 1 (The Broadway Melody) ...to get nominated for BP, but not win: 5 (42nd Street; The Barretts of Wimpole Street; Broadway Melody of 1936; Miracle on 34th Street; Sunset Boulevard)
Cast your bets, folks. Captain Phillips looks like it has this one locked down.
*Special thanks to Hollywood.com writers Julia Emmanuele and Jordan Smith for helping to compile data and entertaining the madness of this post, and to our CTO Greg Zimerman for recovering hours of work after my Word Doc crashed. You're a hero, Greg.
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Okay, it's a bold statement, but I stand by it: 1984 was the year that Top 40 radio achieved perfection. Spurred by the twin successes of MTV and Michael Jackson's Thriller, radio playlists were fully shaken out of the doldrums they'd been in since the disco slump of 1979. Colorful and photogenic British new wave and synth pop acts had been making slow inroads into the Billboard Top 40 since Gary Numan's "Cars" back in early 1980. But the UK pop stars of the day were making overt plays for the American airwaves, and established stateside artists ranging from Prince and Bruce Springsteen to Billy Joel and Tina Turner were responding with some of their biggest-selling albums. And in the middle of it all, two newcomers named Cyndi Lauper and Madonna Ciccone were offering very different -- although equally interesting -- new takes on what it meant to be a female pop star. Here, in chronological order by the week they debuted on the chart, are a baker's dozen of 1984's biggest and best. We could have chosen at least as many more.
Tina Turner -- "Let's Stay Together" (chart debut February 18, reached #26)
In one of the first cases of a vintage R&amp;B star being brought back by younger musicians, a thoroughly washed up Tina Turner was recruited by Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh of the electro-pop trio Heaven 17 to record vocals for a song by their side project the British Electric Foundation. That track led to a hit single with a stark but impassioned synth-driven take on the Al Green classic "Let's Stay Together." That single's U.K. chart success led Capitol Records to sign Turner to an album deal, resulting in the massive-selling Private Dancer LP. She had bigger songs later in the year, including the career-defining #1 "What's Love Got To Do With It," but this smaller hit still sounds the best.
Tracey Ullman -- "They Don't Know" (chart debut March 17, reached #8)
British actress and comedian Tracey Ullman later became a beloved TV figure (not least because she gifted us with The Simpsons), but this note-for-note cover of the late Kirsty MacColl's brilliant 1979 girl-group homage was the first we ever heard of either of these talented women. Literally: that explosive "BABY!" that slams home the final verse is MacColl's powerful voice, not Ullman's charming but thin instrument. And yes, that's Paul McCartney at the end: Ullman was co-starring in his big-budget vanity project Give My Regards To Broad Street when the video was filmed.
Billy Joel -- "The Longest Time" (chart debut April 7, reached #14)
After a string of albums that seemed like increasingly naked attempts to be taken seriously as a songwriter, Billy Joel made the best album of his career just by going back to the '50s R&amp;B and pop singles that had been his first musical love. An Innocent Man had bigger hits, like "Tell Her About It" and "Uptown Girl," but perhaps the best was this doo-wop homage that doubled as an atypically sincere love song for his then-new sweetheart Christie Brinkley. Both his later albums and the marriage went south, but whadaya gonna do? To their credit, Joel and his touring band were unafraid to look like complete ninnies in this silly video taking place at a high school reunion.
Madonna -- "Borderline" (chart debut April 14, reached #10)
After the dancefloor-centric singles "Everybody," "Burning Up" and "Holiday," Madonna proved her pop suss with this incredibly hooky single. It's as easy to move to as any of her other early tracks, but the beat was de-emphasized by the bell-like synth riffs and addictive synth-bass pulse. Brazilians call the sense of aggreeable melancholy on display here saudade, and it gives "Borderline" an elegance that her next couple of singles, "Lucky Star" (the video of which was extremely important to my 14-year-old self for obvious reasons) and "Like A Virgin," would lack.
Cyndi Lauper -- "Time After Time" (chart debut April 21, reached #1)
The goofy "Girls Just Want To Have Fun" made it seem like Cyndi Lauper was going to follow Nena's "99 Luftballoons" into the annals of one-hit-wonders, but this heartbreaking ballad made it clear that despite her perhaps-questionable fashion sense, she was a genuine talent. She's So Unusual was jam-packed with hits ranging from "She Bop," the most overt hit about female masturbation until DiVinyls' "I Touch Myself," to a gorgeously minimal cover of Jules Shear's "All Through the Night." But "Time After Time" was the only one awesome enough that no less than Miles Freakin' Davis recorded it.
Night Ranger -- "Sister Christian" (chart debut April 21, reached #5)
All together now: MOTORIN'! The archetypal power ballad, "Sister Christian" was the song that made it okay for girls to like poodle-haired dudes in spandex and mascara. Although this means Night Ranger were therefore partially responsible for some of the worst hits of the pre-"Smells Like Teen Spirit" era, the song's use in the supremely bizarre home invasion scene in Paul Thomas Anderson's Boogie Nights almost makes up for "When I See You Smile" by Bad English.
Duran Duran -- "The Reflex" (chart debut April 28, reached #1)
The original mix of "The Reflex" that opened Duran Duran's third album, Seven and the Ragged Tiger, was kind of a botch, sluggish and overlong. For the single, the Durans enlisted Chic's Nile Rodgers (yes, the same dude who made Daft Punk's "Get Lucky" so awesome) to remix the song from top to bottom, and his tighter, punchier and more inventive take scored the band their first American #1 hit. As primitive as it seems now, this video looked positively state of the art in the spring of 1984. It was mildly controversial in the halls of Levelland Junior High, as I recall: the sequence that starts around 3:20 was rumored to suggest...um, y'know...it's a giant wave of white fluid hitting audience members in the face, you figure it out.
Bruce Springsteen -- "Dancing in the Dark" (chart debut May 26, reached #2)
Born in the USA was lavishly praised from nearly all corners critically, but living in a small west Texas town at the time, I distinctly remember a lot of Springsteen's biggest fans around me finding "Dancing in the Dark" an overt slap in the face. Powered by a nagging synth riff and a booming, Phil Collins-like four-on-the-floor snare, it sounded like a "f---y little disco song" to the "Born To Run"-loving jocks. I found his willingness to listen to recent musical trends rather encouraging, but I was mostly just into the video for the really cute girl he pulls out of the audience at the end, who a decade or so later turned out to be Courteney Cox.
Dan Hartman -- "I Can Dream About You" (chart debut June 2, reached #6)
A primo piece of Hall and Oates-style '80s blue-eyed soul from a writer-producer who'd had a minor disco-era hit called "Instant Replay," "I Can Dream About You" was somewhat notorious at the time for its video. Not the one above, which was rarely if ever shown on MTV, but the actual clip that MTV had in heavy rotation at the time, which is seen in the TV screens in this version. That clip was a scene from the now-forgotten teen-angst flick Streets of Fire, in which a doo-wop quartet (including future indie director Robert Townshend and Forrest Gump costar Mykelti Williamson) lip-syncs Hartman's vocal. To this day, there are probably people who adore this song who have no idea that it was sung by a baby-faced white guy with a really bad perm.
Prince and the Revolution -- "When Doves Cry" (chart debut June 9, reached #1)
Nearly three decades later, it can be hard to remember just how weird this song sounded when it first hit the airwaves with a burst of Hendrixian feedback and some mumbled chanting. As skeletal as it is undeniable (ever notice that it doesn't have a bass line?), "When Doves Cry" was the song that confirmed that Prince was even weirder, and even more talented, than we had thought. As a musician, anyway: Purple Rain is a strong contender for the coveted title of Worst Film With The Greatest Soundtrack.
John Waite -- "Missing You" (chart debut July 21, reached #1)
The thing about John Waite, who had been the leader of a short-lived rock band called The Babys before he went on to a solo career (and who later was the frontman of the aforementioned Bad English), is that there's this weirdly cynical vibe about him. You just can't believe a word the guy sings. Ironically, that's what makes the chorus "I ain't missing you at all" work as well as it does: a more empathetic singer wouldn't put across the paradox nearly so well.
Bananarama -- "Cruel Summer" (chart debut August 11, reached #9)
Back in the pre-internet 1980s, it sometimes took literally years for a British hit single to attract enough of an American audience to hit the U.S. charts. Bananarama's "Cruel Summer" was the "Blurred Lines" of the summer of 1983 in their native land, but unless you were the kind of person who haunted the import section of your local record shop, it was a little over a year later before it reached your ears. Even though it had been the opening track on the trio's self-titled second album, released in the spring of 1984, it hadn't been London Records' first choice for an American single off the album. That honor went to "Robert De Niro's Waiting," a bouncy little tune that underneath its happy-go-lucky surface appears to be about the post-traumatic stress of a sexual assault victim.
George Michael -- "Careless Whisper" (chart debut December 22, reached #1)
When George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley started Wham!, the duo meant for their music to be a cynical commentary on Thatcherite economic policy. Seriously: go listen to their first single, "Wham Rap! (Enjoy What You Do)." Or better yet, don't: it's absolute rubbish. When a song as fluffy as "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" is a huge improvement over your prior output, it's clear that you started from a bad, bad place. But that first American hit's follow-up "Careless Whisper" (released as a George Michael solo single everywhere but the US, where it was somewhat confusingly credited to "Wham! featuring George Michael") was the first indication of Michael's Elton John-like talent. And you can't fault that sax solo: it just encapsulates the 1980s, doesn't it?
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A frequent formula in most action-packed movies features the triumphant hero and an oh-so sneaky villain. We all know that good always defeats evil, but what happens when the bad guy has a change of heart?
Despicable Me’s Gru is the perfect example of a villain ditching his diabolical ways and opting for a new life filled with friendship and love. Aww, now isn’t that nice?! To celebrate Gru’s quest to stay sweet in the box-office hit Despicable Me 2, we’ve rounded up the top ten movie villains who realize that being good is totally badass.
1. Gru, Despicable Me
During his successful mission of snatching up the moon, Gru came to love his three adopted daughters and realized that he wanted to change his wicked ways and live a happy life with his new family.
2. T-800, Terminator 2
Having spent the entire first movie attempting to murder Sarah Connor, movie-goers witnessed a change of heart when the new T-800 Model Terminator had been re-designed to protect her son John.
3. Severus Snape, Harry Potter
It’s still hard to believe but our least favorite potions professor was actually a sweetheart all along! At every opportunity, Snape tried to protect Harry from Voldemort, he was just pretending to make his life a living hell. That’s so sweet of him!
4. Copper, The Fox and the Hound
Sure, Copper and Todd grew up as the best of friends, but when Copper grew up he was trained that hound dogs and foxes could never be friends. Luckily, Copper learned the error of his ways and protected his childhood pal just in time.
5. Ralph, Wreck-it-Ralph
Ralph realized that he didn’t want to just be the bad guy all the time — he even went to a support group for it. So in his quest for goodness, Ralph did the unthinkable: he left his game! By the end of the movie he realized that it’s alright to just be himself.
6. Diego, Ice Age
Sure, Diego started out as a villainous saber-tooth tiger hell-bent on back-stabbing his new friends, but by the end of the movie he ends up saving everyone. He even fights off his old evil pack in order to do so — what a hero!
7. The Beast, Beauty and the Beast
Having been turned into a Beast after years of selfishness, the prince is only returned to his handsome self after falling for and protecting his beloved Belle. A fantastic u-turn for the man harshly labeled a “beast” for most of his life.
8. The Grinch, How the Grinch Stole Christmas
All the Who’s down in Whoville, were not upset when the Grinch stole all their Christmas presents, food and decorations. And by the end of the movie, their singing and selflessness made his small heart grow three sizes that day.
9. Stitch, Lilo and Stitch
Experiment 626, or more commonly known as Stich, was designed to be unstoppable. He is fire-proof, bullet-proof, and can think faster than super computer. He can see in the dark, and lift objects three thousand times his size. His only instinct is to destroy everything he touches. Luckily the love of having a family changed him and he became even more adorable than he looks.
10. Regina George, Mean Girls
Don't be fooled, Regina George may seem like your typical selfish, back-stabbing slut faced ho-bag, but in reality, she's so much more than that. After being hit with a bus, Regina George decided to channel all of her negative energy into sports instead of calling people “fugly whores” and hooking up with Shane Oman in the projection room above the auditorium. We’re proud of your progress Regina!
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Bates Motel is showing more and more signs that it’s capable of sustaining a story that’s more than just slavingly referential to Psycho. It has the potential to be a thoughtful character study about the roots of evil that actually shows tremendous compassion for its subjects. That said, there was one tantalizing Hitchcock callback, though, near the beginning of Bates’ second episode: leafing through that creepy notebook with sketches of scantily clad girls that he found under the floorboards in the pilot, Norman Bates saw an image of a woman in a shower. So it begins!
The pairing of sex and violence was at the forefront of Bates Motel’s second installment. Namely, Norman got involved with a girl named Emma, who’s suffering from cystic fibrosis, and together they uncovered what may be a human trafficking ring in town. In fact, this little Oregon burg seems to be rife with all kinds of illicit pursuits—industrial-scale marijuana farming, public assassinations, and other augurs of a massive organized crime operation. All we need now is a little of the supernatural, and we’ll practically have ourselves another Twin Peaks. I was wondering exactly how much the town would be explored on the show. It barely factored into Psycho, but it seems like it’s going to be a central focus.
The big twist that fundamentally altered the set-up of Episode 2, as opposed to the pilot, was the arrival of Dylan, Norma’s first-born son. She’s been avoiding him and even moved all the way from Arizona to Oregon just to lose him. But he found her and Norman anyway. And though he seems to have nothing but hatred for them, he insists upon living with them as he’s run out of money. Norma had better welcome him into the fold, or he may very well expose what really happened to Norman’s father. So she did, and in traditional Bates fashion showed that he’d be a part of their daily routine by having him change the motel cabins’ bed linens.
‘Bates Motel’ Premiere Recap: Why Hitchcock Might Approve
On his first night in town, Dylan went to the local strip club and found a man sitting by the stage, crying into his tumbler of Scotch. Earlier in the day, Norman had seen a man who’d been burned alive in a warehouse fire driving like a bat out of hell. Turns out, that was the father of Bradlee, the cute blonde who took him to the party in the premiere. The man, horribly burned, died soon thereafter. This was obviously a well-orchestrated mob hit. The guy sitting at the strip club near Dylan worked for Bradlee’s father and was devastated by his death. So Dylan, the bad son who wants to get involved in anything shady, immediately signed up to help the guy get payback. Maybe he’s just sublimating his frustration toward Norma and Norman by wanting to become a gangbanger, because he couldn’t leave well enough alone when he got back to the motel. He stirred the pot by saying just how resentful he was of Norma leaving his own father and putting all her attention on Norman. “I hate you,” she said to her own son in reply. Dysfunction! She said she liked Norman better because Norman likes her. And yet which son will eventually keep her embalmed corpse in a fruit cellar? Which son, I ask you?
‘Bates Motel’ at TCA: Carlton Cuse Says Just Doing a ‘Psycho’ Homage ‘Isn’t Engaging’
For now, though, Norman was all about defending his mom. After he saw that Dylan had Norma listed on speed-dial simply as “The Whore,” he lunged at him with a hammer but was quickly subdued by his older brother’s superior strength. Dylan said he thought Norma had already ruined Norman.
No doubt about it, though, Norma is a terrible mother: manipulative, over-controlling, desperately insecure. When Emma, the girl with cystic fibrosis, first showed up at the Motel to work with Norman on their language arts assignment, Norma immediately asked about the respirator in her nose that helps with her breathing. Even worse, she asked the girl what her life expectancy is. It’s 27, which maybe means she’ll deem Emma a suitable conquest for Norman (or Norman Conquest!).
Norman and Emma’s project was to link up a poem—in this case, William Blake’s The Tyger—with some aspect of contemporary culture. Emma thought it was primarily an inquiry into why God would create such ugliness and terror (as embodied by a tiger) in a world that also features such beauty. She thought maybe they could connect the poem to contemporary murderers “like O.J. or Charles Manson.” Then she found Norman’s notebook—the one he got from under the floorboards. And suddenly a whole new view of the world’s underlying ugliness came forward. Emma wasn’t put off, though. She reads a lot of Manga! So these images were hardly too steamy for her.
Shortly thereafter, she invited Norman to her father’s taxidermy shop, where presumably Norman will learn all his skills. She says that she thinks this notebook was the diary of a girl from China forced into sex slavery and smuggled into the United States as part of a big human trafficking scheme. She thought that the drawings indicated one of her fellow sex slave companions had been killed and buried out in the woods, and she knew exactly the spot. So she and Norman headed out on an expedition to find the grave. And that’s when they discovered a massive marijuana field being patrolled by armed guards. Last we saw they were being chased through the woods with the gun-toting guards hot on their heels.
SXSW: ‘Bates Motel’ Isn’t Your Mother’s ‘Psycho’
All this had been set up earlier in the episode when Norma went on a quasi date with Officer Shelby to the Woodchuck, an annual event celebrating the town’s history of logging. That industry had died out, and yet, oddly enough, many of the people in town have million-dollar homes and foreign cars. Like Bradlee and her family. Her father had been targeted for assassination, so it’s safe to assume that much of his—and, by extension, the town’s— wealth is owed to organized crime. The final image of the episode was of a burning corpse hanging upside down from a flagpole, presumably the retaliation for Bradlee’s father’s murder.
When I say Twin Peaks seemed the reference point for this episode—it’s not just that Bates Motel is set in the Pacific Northwest or has a general sense of eeriness. It’s that there’s an underlying sense of darkness beneath the tranquility of the town’s façade, that evil and death can suddenly erupt into a world we think is ordered and harmonious. It is what Blake was getting at in “The Tyger,” what Lynch was getting at in Twin Peaks and Blue Velvet—with the insects mauling each other at the roots of a picture-perfect picket fence—and what Hitchcock also expressed in Psycho.
If it keeps on like this, we may not want to check out of Bates Motel anytime soon.
Follow Christian Blauvelt on Twitter @Ctblauvelt
[Photo Credit: A+E]
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I'm in the minority (or so I've been told) on the first G.I. Joe movie, 2009's Rise of the Cobra. The movie was popcorn movie lunacy, a blockbuster adaptation of every kid's experience squaring hordes of action figures against each other in a giant sandbox battle. Director Stephen Sommers owned the attitude, introduced us to Channing Tatum as action hero who could ground absurdity, and went to town with the toys.
That style didn't work for everyone — including the people behind the film's sequel, G.I. Joe Retaliation. If Rise of the Cobra was about bringing the childhood fantasy of playing with Joe figures to life, Retaliation is grown from the brand's darkest moments.
The world of Joe has an expanded mythology, constructed over decades by comic book writers. Director Jon Chu makes it loud and clear that his fondness for the property is drawn from that character-driven material, grounding Retaliation in reality and only sporadically introducing the Joes' arsenal of futuristic weaponry and vehicles. Having scrapped nearly the entire original cast from the first movie, Chu, working from a script by Zombieland writers Rhett Reese &amp; Paul Wernick, quickly introduces us to the new team, a playful group led by Duke (Tatum) with assistance from newcomer Roadblock (Dwayne Johnson). Between the first movie and Retaliation, Hollywood discovered Tatum and Johnson's comedic abilities, and they're on full display here. In the opening moments, it's made clear the duo can maneuver stealthily, engage in shootouts, and break goons in half. But they can also crack wise. An early scene where the two harass each other while playing Call of Dutyis among the highlights.
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Speed is the name of the game for Retaliation, which relies on a surprising amount of Rise of the Cobraknowledge in order to shift the sequel into high gear. Roadblock and his two underlings Jaye (Adrianne Palicki) and Flint (D.J. Cotrona) are eventually stranded on their own, the Joes division disbanded and hunted down by The President after a mission gone awry. The twist is The President (Jonathan Pryce) is actually COBRA's master of disguise Zartan — a thread picked up from the first movie. Running the nation, Zartan's diabolical plan is to rescue Cobra Commander from jail, integrate his troops in to the U.S. army, and convince the nationals of the world to agree to a nuclear disarmament plan… so that they can eventually be blown away by COBRA.
Retaliation actively works to undo the events of Rise of the Cobra, breaking off various elements into bite size morsels that work on their own. Spliced between Roadblock's mission to prove the Joes' innocence and take down Zartan is the zanier material forced into Rise of the Cobra. On the other side of the globe, mute ninja Snake Eyes (Ray Park) and his sidekick Jinx (Elodie Yung) follow the trail of Storm Shadow (Byung-hun Lee), hoping to bring the kitana-wielding warrior to justice. The movie's biggest action scene plays out along the face of a cliff, an acrobatic chase between Snake Eyes and COBRA's ninja army. After battling it out with Storm Shadow in the confines of a dojo, Snake Eyes and Jinx swing off a mountain and the dance of swordplay and wire work plays out. It's like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragonwith actual physics — exhilarating.
The movie's biggest issue is that it can't build momentum to bigger and bigger stunts. Cobra Commander goon Firefly (Ray Stevenson) and Roadblock have a number of tussles, the two hulking actors bringing physicality to the franchise for the first time after mostly CG-enhanced battles. They're fun, but few and far between (especially when Stevenson once again chews up every bit of scene he can get his teeth on). Chu, a dancer and the man behind two installments of Step Up, has a clear eye for action choreography, adeptly orchestrating the mayhem of a Joe-style infiltration or a cross-cutting undercover operation (one that recalls the opening scene of De Palma's Mission: Impossible). What Retaliation needs is more: bigger, badder, crazier. The only gripe against the sequel in the action departments is that there isn't enough of it.
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What helps make up for Retaliation's smaller scope are the colorful performances and rather subversive script. The Rock continues his trend of being a watchable badass. Sweet, yet fully capable of punching you into tomorrow; Palicki stands out as an actress who can pull off the physical stunts while breathing life into a part written for arm candy; and Pryce, whose scant appearances in Rise of Cobra teased his talent, is hilariously evil as the Zartan-masked Commander-in-Chief. He rattles off one-liners faster than mini-gun does bullets. "They call it water boarding, but I never get board…" is as priceless as they come. Pryce lays down the poetic punnery alongside some truly nefarious themes. Retaliation manages to raise some serious questions about patriotism, government actions, and how much we can take our leaders at face value. Unless The Rock promises to be around to save our butts, we might be as good as nuked.
There's a middle ground between Retaliation and its predecessor that could make for the perfect Joe movie, one entranced by camaraderie and kicking ass in the name of the U.S.A. and one that completely unleashes his imagination. Bruce Willis' General Joe Colton — the original Joe — ends up embodying that. He's a real life American hero… who keeps a pimped out tank in his garage, complete with missile launchers. That's the movie in a nutshell, all the Joe franchise needs next is a few extra doses of that thinking. Retaliation delivers thrills, but it's the rare case where playing with more toys would have helped.
3.5/5
What do you think? Tell Matt Patches directly on Twitter @misterpatches and read more of his reviews on Rotten Tomatoes!
[Photo Credit: Paramount Pictures]
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In this week’s edition of Leanne’s Spoiler List, I decided to shake things up a bit. On Monday, I asked you — the lovely readers of the Internet—to vote for the five shows that you wanted to be featured this week. After thousands of votes I’ve discovered a few things: The first is that the Glee fans will automatically dominate any type of competition or poll. And secondly, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that your votes allowed me to write about five of my all-time favorite shows! Basically I felt like this when I saw the results.
To thank you for your good taste and participation, I’ve packed this week’s list with as many spoilers as I could. I chatted with Andrew Rannells to get the goods on Girls, laughed with Once Upon a Time’s Josh Dallas about his charming new family, and chatted with Glee’s very own Ryan Murphy to bring you your weekly shipper update. I’ve also gathered scoop from the stars of New Girl and Arrow to get you all caught up on the craziness that it coming to your TV screens. Read on for all the scoop from the shows you picked!
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1. Girls: The Best Performance We Never Saw!
In last Sunday’s painfully awkward — and just plain painful to watch — episode of Girls, fans witnessed Marnie’s first attempt to showcase her newly declared dream of being a singer. In case you missed the most horrifyingly realistic performance to ever creep across your television screens, you can watch it here. Was anyone else peeping from between their fingers?
Hopefully Marnie’s singing skills will improve, because as I recently revealed, The New Normal star Andrew Rannells is returning to Girls in Season 3! We all know that Rannells has a flawless voice and amazing stage presence — but does Elijah share these same skills?
To find out the answer, I caught up with the unbelievably handsome Rannells at PaleyFest’s red carpet to honor The New Normal last week. After gushing over the brilliance of Matt Bomer — again — I asked if we could expect to see a Marnie/Elijah duet sext season. Rannells smiled and revealed, “Well you know what’s a bummer is we did one!”
Did you hear that, Book of Mormon fans?! Rannells sang on the HBO hit earlier this season, and somehow it ended up on the cutting room floor. Gasp! “In Season 2 — the first episode back — Allison and I sang a song together,” Rannells said. “We sang a karaoke version of The Wreckers, which is Michelle Branch’s country group. We did a duet.” Apparently this alcohol-induced performance happened only a few minutes before their “two-and-a-half pumps" that took place on the couch.
Is anyone else experiencing a strong case of FOMO right now?! (Psst! That means “fear of missing out” Mom.) Thankfully, the multi-talented actor assures Girls fans that he’s currently campaigning for another duet next season. “Hopefully we’ll get to do something else. If nothing else Allison and I will just get drunk and sing somewhere,” Rannells says with a laugh. Umm, that sounds absolutely amazing! Can we come too?
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2. Arrow: New Island Ally
Believe it or not, we’re about to hit the home stretch, Arrow fans: starting on March 20, we’re going to get 7 amazing, action-packed, jaw-dropping episodes in a row, all the way to the season finale! And if you think the freshman CW drama can’t get any more epic than it already has, then we’re clearly not watching the same show.
When we caught up with the Arrow cast and producers at their PaleyFest event last week, we could barely contain our fangirling long enough to ask questions about the next chapter of the show. Thankfully, star Stephen Amell was as eager as we were to talk about what Oliver does next, especially now that his island self has started to toughen up.
“I’ve become a big sucker for the island," he says. "When we began on the island, I was just laying around in the cave like an idiot, like, ‘Aww I need some fooood.' But I always knew that eventually my spine would begin to form. We’re going to see in coming episodes that things are actually pretty good for Oliver — relatively speaking [on the island], so that means something bad is about to happen.”
Executive producer Marc Guggenheim agreed that the island story is a crucial part of Arrow's mythology, and the addition of Manu Bennett’s Slade Wilson was a success. “We love writing Oliver and Slade together," Guggenheim says. "They are the proto Butch and Sundance. But something will complicate that relationship soon, adding a third element to that.”
Spoiler Alert! That third element is Yao Fei’s daughter, Shado, who we briefly got a glimpse of during “The Odyssey” — when we learned that Fyers was holding her hostage in exchange for Yao Fei’s obedience. Shado is a lawyer (as well as an expert martial artist and archer... hmm, that sounds like another certain lady friend in Ollie's past... cough, Laurel cough…) fighting to free her father from being banished to the island by the Chinese government.
Expect to see the dynamic duo of Slade and Ollie add one more to their alliance when she teams up with them to rescue her father and escape the island But most mysteriously of all, she has the same tattoo of a tiger on the back of her shoulder that post-island Ollie has… Could there be something more between them? Something romantical, perhaps?
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3. Once Upon a Time: A Baby Maybe?
Being forced to save your baby girl by passing her through a magical wardrobe into another realm and then missing out on her first 28-years of existence — followed by a year of not remembering her at all — is not an ideal parenting situation.
In ABC’s hit drama Once Upon a Time, Prince Charming and Snow White have spent the past 16 episodes trying to make up lost time with their darling magic-inclined daughter Emma, and it’s been just lovely. However, many fans — myself included — are campaigning for the stork to visit Storybrooke.
So I caught up with Prince Charming himself, Josh Dallas, last week at PaleyFest, and asked if a new baby is something he’d like to see for his on-screen alter ego. “God, that would be nice wouldn’t it?" Dallas says. “I think that would be a really nice happy ending for them. There are [currently] no talks, but I think it would be a cool way to go.”
That’s not quite true, Josh! In the PaleyFest panel, creators Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz briefly mentioned that a Charming baby is most likely in the works for sometime next season. All together now: Squee!
Until the Charmings get another royal bun in the oven, their main priority for the next few episodes is looking after Henry. Luckily Neil/Bae’s presence should help take away some of that babysitting burden. Dallas admits that Charming is genuinely happy that Henry has been reunited with his father. “I think on one hand he’s going to be really relieved that there’s going to be a puzzle piece from Henry’s past placed back in there," he says. "So he’s going to sit back and just see what Neil is all about.” Would you like to see Snow and Charming with a baby prince, or princess? Cast your vote in the comments below!
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4. New Girl: Love in The Loft
Nick/Jess shippers, let it be known that something major goes down during next week's episode, “Quick Hardening Caulk.” Jess, hopped up on pain pills, confesses her true feelings to Nick. But how will he react? I’m not telling ...but let Nick himself, Jake Johnson, share how this admission will affect the group's dynamics: "It throws a wrinkle into the mix a little bit, and it kind of takes it to another level."
But while Nick and Jess could potentially heat up, another beloved non-couple (not anymore, at least), cools down. In “Quick Hardening Caulk,” we'll see Schmidt desperately trying to let go of his feelings for Cece now that his ex is engaged. "In a way, there is a cathartic experience that Schmidt goes through involving a fish — that he may think is Cece — and he’s starting to try to come to terms with it," Max Greenfield says.
Schmidt will get back out in the field as a way to get over the one that got away, and "ends up reconnecting with an old girlfriend from college, played by Merritt Wever, who is just the best," Greenfield says. That will last for at least a few episodes, and inspires the gang's virginity-losing flashback episode the cast and producers teased during the show's PaleyFest panel Monday night.
Not to worry, Winston fans! He certainly won't be left out on the relationship front — he's still dating Daisy, although the state of their relationship is up in the air. "His relationship is very patchy," Lamorne Morris says. "His girlfriend is always on a plane somewhere so he doesn’t really have time to see her. It’s more of a convenient relationship [for Daisy] — it’s like I’m in town, and none of my other dudes have picked up their phones, so I’m going to call Winston. That’s what I feel like Daisy’s doing. I don’t even care."
Their relationship should last for a while, though — or at least until the end of the season. "The only reason I say that is because Brenda Song got a new TV show, so she won't be back next season," Morris says. "Hopefully her TV show will last a million years. She's the greatest." Fingers crossed New Girl lasts a million years too!
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5. Glee: Ryan Murphy Tells All
It’s no secret that Glee fans are, without a doubt, an extremely and sometimes overly passionate group — but that’s what makes them so great! According to Glee creator Ryan Murphy, that is. (Bee tee dubs: I totally agree, but you already knew that of course.) When I caught up with the Murphy a few weeks ago, I made sure to ask the showrunner extraordinaire if he ever lets some of the — Hmm, how should I put this? — intense fans influence his creative choices for the show.
“They’re all so intense, are you kidding?” Murphy says with a smile. “I don’t look at is as pressure, I just look at it as passion. I’ll be honest — when I first started [using] Twitter, I was a little unnerved. But [now] I just treat it as a fandom that has a love of things that I’ve created, so why would I think differently?”
And as far as the “original” shipper fandoms go — we’re talking Klaine, Wemma, Brittana etc. — Murphy reminds fans that all couples go through their natural ups and downs in a relationship and there is always an opportunity for reconciliation. However, when it comes to progression in upcoming episodes, Murphy revealed that Finn and Rachel fans should remain optimistic. “Always have hope, I’ve said that from the beginning," he says. "Always."
Bonus Scoop! Here are some other Gleeful goodies we can look forward to: Finn is finally going to find his dreams — and he’s going to discover this inner amazingness in the hallowed halls of college! That’s right, Mr. Hudson is headed to higher education. While I’m not allowed to reveal what his major will be, I can tell you that we will be meeting his roomie very soon!
Also — we’re getting a flashback! In the upcoming episode “Sweet Dreams,” fans will not only be reunited with the lovely Shelby Cocoran — aka Rachel’s momma — but we’ll also get to see 5-year-old Rachel! Fingers crossed they make Reindeer sweaters for little ones. Also, one member of the New Directions will take their crack at songwriting — and I anticipate it to be very Taylor Swift-y. (Pssst! Meaning it’ll be about boys…)
Are you excited for the upcoming episodes of Glee? Think Snow and Charming should have a royal new addition to the family? Wanna get drunk and sing karaoke with Andrew Rannels and Allison Williams on Girls? Sing out in the comments!
Follow Leanne on Twitter @LeanneAguilera
—Additional reporting by Sydney Bucksbaum and Jean Bentley
[Photo Credit: HBO, Universal Pictures, ABC, FOX (2)]
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Bella, Edward and Jacob take on a host of wide release newcomers this weekend including Paramount’s release of Dreamworks Animation’s Rise of the Guardians in 3-D, Ang Lee’s acclaimed Life of Pi in 3-D, and FilmDistrict’s re-make of Red Dawn.
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn, Part 2 from Summit Entertainment (a Lionsgate company) will top the Friday through Sunday portion of Thanksgiving weekend with a likely gross in the mid-$40 million range and around $65 million for Wednesday through Sunday. Breaking Dawn, Part 1 dropped 70% in its second weekend at the same time last year(earning $41.7M for 3 days &amp; $61.8M for 5), but based on stronger word-of-mouth this latest installment will likely show greater stamina. With solid mid-week grosses ($10.1 million on Monday alone), the film could finish the Thanksgiving holiday weekend with a massive $220 million in North America and well over $400 million worldwide!
This will put the vampires and werewolves tale well ahead of the new Thanksgiving releases. First up is Rise of the Guardians which is looking at a fairly modest Wednesday through Sunday opening frame of around $40 million and a possible low $20 million gross for the weekend portion alone. This “all-star” movie brings together classic and iconic childhood characters Jack Frost (Chris Pine), Santa Claus (Alec Baldwin), The Tooth Fairy (Isla Fisher), The Easter Bunny (Hugh Jackman) and the Sandman in an epic battle to protect the children of the world from The Boogeyman (Jude Law). This will be the last DreamWorks Animation film to be distributed by Paramount Pictures, with the next film to be distributed by 20th Century Fox.
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Next up for the holiday movie feast is 20th Century Fox’s Life of Pi based on Yann Martel's bestselling 2001 book about a teenage boy set adrift in the middle of the ocean on a raft with four animals as his only companions. This fantastical adventure has been winning praise for its stunning 3-D visuals and is gaining Oscar buzz. Directed by Ang Lee (Brokeback Mountain, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon), this epic film with a reported $120 million budget will have to bank on solid word-of-mouth in the coming weeks to keep it afloat. This weekend a 5-day gross of around $20 million (and low to mid-teens for F-S-S) is expected for its debut in around 2,900 theaters.
FilmDistrict will release the re-make of Red Dawn in 2,678 theaters in North America on Wednesday (expanding to 2,724 theatres on Friday). This time Thor-Hunk Chris Hemsworth, Hunger-Gamer Josh Hutcherson, Adrianne Palicki and Jeffrey Dean Morgan star as American citizens protecting their small town from a North Korean invasion. The original film released in 1984 featured small-towners Patrick Swayze, C. Thomas Howell and Charlie Sheen battling Russian military forces. According to the press release, pre-release tracking indicates that the film could post a five-day gross in the very high teens with a three day (F-S-S) in the low teens. This should be a fine result for FilmDistrict which did not produce the film rather only acquired distribution rights.
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Of course Bond, James Bond will continue to make his formidable presence known in the well-reviewed and highly successful Skyfall. The highest grossing Bond film to date as it closes in on $700 million globally, this is also the most universally-praised Bond film in years. An expected weekend gross in the high teen range will put the film within shooting distance of $200 million in North America alone, by the end of the long holiday period.
This will also be a great Thanksgiving weekend for those who have been chomping at the bit to see the much talked about films Silver Linings Playbook from The Weinstein Co. (which expands into about 420 theaters on Friday) and Anthony Hopkins in Fox Searchlight's Hitchcock which opens on Friday in limited release in 17 theaters.
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This week, The X Factor judges took their rightful seats at the front of the stage, ready to critique, criticize, and compliment the top 16 performers — only this time it was live. (Cue the applause!) After sitting through the good, the bad and what seemed to be an endless amount of fog, it was time for the first four to go home. (Find out who got the boot right here!). Three not-so-shocking eliminations and one “What the hell were you thinking, Britney?!” later, Hollywood.com headed backstage to catch up with the judges, hosts and the recently Xed contestants to bring you all the inside scoop on the over-the-top, but oh-so fun singing competition.
On Thursday night, Britney Spears created her own teen version of a double edged sword by pitting soon-to-be heartthrob Arin Ray against the tremendously talented Diamond White. L.A. Reid summed it up best: “That was the toughest call of the night, in my opinion. That was a very, very special voice, versus a really handsome and charismatic guy, and the room was screaming for this guy, girls were screaming for him So it was like mania versus a really special talent.” At the end of the neck-and-neck sing-for-survival segment, Spears decided to save 16-year-old Ray.
The princess of pop describes sending the 13-year-old starlet home as “dreadful.” Spears explained, “I love Diamond, but one had to go. So, you had to make that decision, and it’s really tough, because they are just so incredibly talented. She has such an amazing voice at such a young age, and it’s really hard to do that.” While many fans were baffled at Spears’ ruling, (one journalist exclaimed, “This is why Britney should not be allowed to make her own decisions!”) the X Factor judge is confident with her choice. “I was just looking for that eye-of-the-tiger, that it-factor ... that kind of just wows you and takes you in and you just kind of know so that’s why I made my decision.”
Simon Cowell, on the other hand, was not so pleased with Brit-Brit’s decision. During our interview with the Executive Producer, White came over to bid adieu to the blunt Brit, and Cowell took this opportunity to be completely honest with the young singing-hopeful. “Diamond, I’m really sorry. I really am. You’re the one we should’ve kept. But you know what, things like this can sometimes help you in life. Remember Jennifer Hudson? I mean that, because you were amazing tonight.” Cowell continued, “More than fine. Don’t feel down, because you’re talented, and you know that, and you’re going to be a brand. Remember that.” Aaaand then our hearts melted.
Reid said that he too is confident that someone in the music industry is going to snatch up that little star. “I have some friends who just adore her. Friends in entertainment, who each week have emailed me and just raved about her.” Please excuse us while we currently try to cross all of our fingers and toes. But how is White herself handeling the news? Answer: Like a classy young lady. “I’m actually feeling pretty awesome,” she said with a smile. “I made it to the top 16 out of hundreds of thousands of people, so I think that’s an awesome goal. Now that this door has closed, I’m going to go onto bigger and better things. My next goal is shooting for Madison Square Garden.” You go girl! (Wow. Okay, sorry, we really thought we could pull that phrase off…)
Would you line up to see Diamond White sing at Madison Square Garden? Shocked that she was kicked off the competition so soon? Sing your thoughts in the comments below!
Follow Leanne on Twitter @LeanneAguilera
[Photo Credit: FOX]
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